22 "God is the strength of my heart" (PSALM LXXIII. 26). are a stranger to His grace? Are you living in any wilful sin? Are you passing day by day without a thought of Him who made you? Are you making light of His holy Sabbath, of His worship, and His Word? Are you putting off the care of your soul till a more convenient season? If this be so, turn to God without delay. "It is high time to awake out of sleep." 'Behold, the Judge standeth before the door!" Acknowledge your sin. Cast yourself at the Saviour's footstool. Believe on Him to everlasting life. "Sayest ye will not come? 'Tis God vouchsafes to call; -Rev. George Everard, M.A., Wolverhampton. The same old Gospel! It is sweet to think Invite the world, the thirsty world, to drink Of that same stream He bade them freely take. The same old Gospel! Gospel of our youth— We need no other: tell us it again, When earthly music fails to charm the ear, When we are racked with life's last mortal pain, The known familiar words will sweetly cheer. The same old Gospel, to a brave new song, Will be our theme for ever round the throne; We tell it here, but we shall sing ere long Its matchless praise where its full worth is known. WILLIAM LUFF. "May I Beg You, Please, Sir?" "WOULD TOULD you like to know how I became converted?" asked an old man of his minister. "Yes: do tell me all about it." "I was walking out one day, and I met a boy. The little fellow lingered in passing me, and at length stopped. May I beg you, please, sir,' said he to me, 'to take a tract? and will you please read it, sir?' Tracts! I hated tracts, and all that sort of thing, at all times; but that 'May I beg you, please, sir,' moved me. I took the tract, and thanked the little boy, and told him I would read it; and I did read it too; and that reading saved my soul." Reader, do you say, "Tracts! I hate tracts!" Possibly you do; and if so, may this not be one reason why you are not a Christian? It is a wellauthenticated fact that the reading of a tract has often proved the means of converting a soul; and it may be that God might use just such a simple means to convert you. What if you are rejecting the very blessing which God thus offers you? God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. "According to His mercy He saved us" (TITUS III. 5). The Safety of Saying "No!" N early life I was "trained to be temIperate, chaste, and honest; to pray, to revere and read the Word of God, and to keep the Sabbath ;" and being ambitious, I determined to enter some mercantile business, for which purpose I visited the city of Baltimore. I had no acquaintance on my arrival there, and but a few dollars to pay my expenses. On going to my room alone, my thoughts were:-"I am in a strange city, far from home, without a friend, surrounded by dangers of every kind. I have my reputation and character professing Christian to maintain against fearful odds. What shall I do? I will do this:-I have promised never to drink a drop of spirituous liquors as a beverage, or to be found in any place where I should be ashamed for my father and mother to see me; and I will look to the Lord in every trial to make a way for my escape." Then, kneeling down, I asked the Lord to help me to keep my promise. I did not know how soon the trial was to come. The next evening I was invited by two of my new acquaintances to take a walk to see the city; and, being unacquainted with city life, was glad to accept. After passing several squares we came in front of what was called the "Green House," into which it was proposed we should go. I inquired, "What kind of a place is 23 you and I will wait here five minutes for (looking at my watch); but if you are not out by that time you will not find me here." I waited that space of time, and then returned to my hotel. That night one of those young men was brought in from the gutter, into which he had fallen intoxicated. I watched his downward course for several years, until I learned that a wave dashed him from the deck of a ship, and he perished. The last I heard of his comrade was, that he, too, was fast hastening to a drunkard's grave. In Baltimore I soon obtained a situation, and at once gave it my undivided attention, and have now pursued the same business more than thirty years. To the present time the promise I made is still unbroken; and largely to it, through the help of the Lord, I owe my success and escape from the snares into which I have seen so many fall; and I would say, as I once heard the Rev. Alfred Cookman say to a young man just starting out, “Thomas, take God with you."—Christian Advocate. THE very commandment of God,-"Repent," shows a dispensation above the law, and supposes a fountain of grace in the heart of God. Were there not forgiveness with God, there could have been no commandment to repent. this?" THE day is near when the stewardship of "The Green House," they said; "only life will be demanded. How are we using an oyster saloon." it now-for our Lord, or for ourselves? I replied, "You may go in, and I will And what care have we taken that, when wait here for you." "Come in, come in!" they exclaimed; "we will not stay two minutes." the substance of this life dissolves into the shadow of death, we may find room for our souls in the everlasting habitations on "No," I replied; "you go, if you wish, high? "I know that my Redeemer liveth" (JOB XIX. 25). BLESSED IS THE MAN TO WHOM THE LORD WILL NOT IMPUTE SIN." ROMANS iv. 8. ནག་ "Obtained Promises. HEBREWS xi. 33. BTAINED PROMISES." Have you ever thought out all that is contained here? Have you ever looked at these words as amongst the most inspiriting evidences of the power of believing prayer? You have heard promises, repeated promises, perhaps loved the promises, possibly pleaded the promises, but have you ever obtained them? Can you turn over the leaves of your Bible, and put your finger upon one after another, and write a receipt underneath it? Can you recall distinct transactions with the Author of these promissory notes, and certify that He has made them good? I can hardly imagine a more distinct achievement of that faith without which it is impossible to please God than a grappling on one's knees with the difficulties which oppose faith-with unbelief and self-willand a strong, earnest, undaunted presentation of a promise with the determination that it shall be turned into gold. Such transactions leave marks in our spiritual life, and are of the sort which bring glory to God. I like to think of the story of a Bible in which, beside many a promise, the letters "T. P." were written a Bible, whose humble owner, when questioned as to their meaning, made the simple answer, "Tried and Proved." I think that Bible had proved a book of bank-notes to its possessor; and that she knew what you and I, reader, must seek to know more-the wide power which God wills that His secret ones should possess and exercise, of obtaining promises. Are You Willing to Make it Up? T is very easy to get up a quarrel. There are gunpowder Christians all around us, and one match of provocation will set them off. It is easy enough to get up a quarrel. But, my brother, don't think you you had better make an apology? Had not you better submit to a little humiliation? "Oh!" you say, until that man takes the first step, I will never be at peace with him; nothing will be done, until he is ready to take the first step." You are a pretty Christian! When would this world have been saved if Christ had not taken the first step? We were in the wrong; Christ was in the right, all right, and for ever right. And yet He took the first step. STIRLING ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY PERIODICALS. THE BRITISH MESSENGER, Price One Penny. One copy, monthly, 1s. 6d.; 4 copies, 48.; 8 copies, 8s., and upwards, sent post free. THE GOSPEL TRUMPET, Printed in Large Type. Price One Halfpenny, or 3s. 6d. per 100. Eight copies monthly, 4s. per annum; 16 copies, 88., and upwards, sent post free." GOOD NEWS, Price One Halfpenny, 3 copies for 1d., or 2s. 6d. per 100. 18 monthly, 68. per annum; 36 copies, 128., and upwards, sent post free. THE HALF-CROWN PACKET, consisting of one British Messenger, one Gospel Trumpet, and one Good News, monthly for one year for 2s. 6d., including postage, to any address in the United Kingdom. THE FOUR SHILLING PACKET, consisting of two British Messengers, two Gospel Trumpets, and three Good News, monthly for one year for 48, post free, to any address in the United Kingdom. Specimens of the Stirling Publications, with Catalogue, sent free by post on application to JOHN MACFARLANE, Manager, DRUMMOND'S TRACT DEPOT, Stirling, N. B. LONDON AGENTS: S. W. PARTRIDGE & Co. Melbourne,-M. L. HUTCHINSON, Book Warehouse, 15 Collins Street West. Published and sold by the Trustees acting under a Trust Disposition and Codicils relating to the STIRLING TRACT ENTERPRISE, granted by the now deceased PETER DRUMMOND, founder thereof, proprietors in Trust, at DRUMMOND'S TRACT DEPOT, Stirling, N.B. ፡፡ 26 The good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep" (JOHN X. 11). I could not resist its appeals; so I took it in my arms, and carried it to a sheep that was browsing not far off. But the sheep moved away, and the tiny lamb ran back to me, still imploring help. Again I took it in my arms, and carrying it towards another sheep farther off, put it down where some bracken would hide it from me as I rapidly stepped back. The lamb did not go toward the retreating sheep, but remaining where it had been placed, still repeated its sad ery. Then the shepherd took in his arms the little trembling lamb, which at once nestled its head in his bosom and hushed its pitiful cry. And as this great, strong, tender-hearted man stalked down the mountainside, like a giant bearing his tiny burden, I thought of the words of the prophet, "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom" (Isaiah xl. 11). The next year I was again at Washdale, and inquired of the shepherd how the lamb had fared. Said he-" It is now the fattest and the strongest of my flock." I took it in my arms once more, and sat down meditating what I had better do. Should I carry it forward with me till I reached the first house, several miles distant? But might Thus many, even the very chief of not such an act seem suspicious, if I sinners, when ready to perish, have met the owner of the flock? At any been taken into the arms of Jesus, rate, I would not, I could not, leave and under His fostering care have to perish a helpless creature which soon become as spiritually strong and had cast itself on my protection. useful as any of the flock.-Rev. New| Just then, looking listlessly down man Hall, LL.B. into the valley, I saw a small object at the foot of the mountain moving slowly upward. It came nearer. It was a man. Still nearer. my shepherd friend. I at once showed him my lamb, and entrusted it to his care. It was “Poor thing!” said the shepherd; "its mother has forsaken it. They sometimes do, when pasture is scarce. It would have died in an hour or two. But I'll take it down and give it some milk, and it will soon get right." THE blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." This royal proclamation is flung out to the world unlimited as to time. It does not say, All sin of twenty-five years' standing, or All sin of the present generation. But all sin, from Adam down to the last sinner that shall be converted before the millennium. It makes no difference that this last poor sinner may have in the long line, and final clinch in Adam himtaken a twist or a taint from every generation self. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." To indulge anger, is to admit Satan as a guest; but to indulge malice, is to close the door upon him as an inmate. In the one he finds a transient lodging; in the other a permanent home. |